Plastic trays are often used to transport multiples of articles to a location where the articles are disposed for individual handling. In particular, plastic trays are used to transport beverage containers such as cans or bottles to points of purchase such as retail establishments or vending machines for sale as individual articles. Beverages that are sold in individual units at points of purchase are typically transported to the points of purchase in plastic tray.
A shortcoming of transporting articles in plastic trays is that the trays require extensive handling after they have been unloaded. Typically, the trays must be transported back to the place of loading, must be stored, and may have to be cleansed before being used again. Oftentimes, plastic trays are lost or inadvertently left behind after a delivery is made. Thus, the handling requirements and the potential for loss add costs to the process of stocking the points of purchase. It can be appreciated that it would be useful to have a means for simplifying and reducing the cost of transporting individual articles to points of purchase.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.